NSCC, Irving to boost diversity in trades studies

An agreement signed by Irving Shipbuilding and the Nova Scotia Community College on Friday aims to boost the diversity of the workforce in the shipbuilding trades.

Under the memorandum of understanding, Irving will contribute $250,000 each year for 30 years to support recruitment and training efforts for students who are under-represented in the trades, such as women, First Nations, African-Nova Scotians and people with disabilities.

The announcement will make a big difference to students like Olivia Renshaw and others who follow in her footsteps.

The 18-year-old from Dartmouth is studying welding at the college. Renshaw said she got a pleasant surprise when she looked around the room on the first day of class and saw that nine of the 27 students were female.

“I thought I was going to stick out like a sore thumb, but with other women here, it makes it a lot more comfortable,” she said.

“It feels good that people that aren’t normally represented are going to be the shining stars of something that’s so huge.”

The memorandum of understanding focuses on recruiting and training students as well as providing career advice. While the agreement signed Friday is not binding, a more definitive agreement is expected as the shipbuilding contracts are finalized.

Premier Darrell Dexter, who was on hand for the announcement at the college’s Akerley campus in Dartmouth, said recruitment efforts will start immediately.

“We want this activity to take place. We want to start pulling those people into these programs,” he said.

“We want to reach the maximum number of people we can, whether they are in under-represented populations or people who simply are not maximizing their abilities in terms of being productive in the economy.”

Halifax got handed its windfall in the shipbuilding sweepstakes one year ago, when politicians in suits and shipyard workers in hardhats whooped and hollered in the elation of the moment.

Across the province that day, Nova Scotians breathed sighs of relief, knowing that their jobs and their futures were perhaps a bit more stable.

The exodus of workers from the province hasn’t left Renshaw’s family unscathed, but she has nothing but confidence.

“A lot of people in my family left to go to Alberta for jobs and it really broke up a lot of the family,” she said. “This is where I was born and now my family can be here and I’ll have guaranteed hours, I’ll have a job, I’ll have a career, and I won’t have to worry about leaving to find jobs.”

The shipyard in Halifax received the lion’s share of the federal government’s $35 billion in contract work, winning the $25-billion deal to build 21 combat vessels.

Irving Shipbuilding says it expects to hire about 1,500 workers over the next eight to 10 years.